The present invention relates to suspended drywall ceilings that require a floating edge in their construction. Such suspended drywall ceilings are typically constructed using suspended "T" grid beams, joined to form a supporting grid system upon which drywall or lay-in acoustical panels can be mounted. This grid system is usually referred to as suspension grid. A "T" grid beam is an elongated beam with a flange at the bottom of the beam and a thicker "bulb" portion at the top end of the beam. Thus, the cross section of the beam resembles an inverted "T" shaped configuration. The bottom of the flange provides the grid face for the attachment of drywall or other panels. Typically, these grid beams are made of extruded aluminum or roll-formed steel, and can be straight or curved.
Certain suspended grid ceiling designs call for a floating edge ceiling or an island ceiling, where one or more edges of the ceiling are exposed and must be trimmed and finished. In these design situations, the suspended grid beam ends are cut to form the exposed vertical edge of the ceiling, or the edge is formed along the length of a grid beam. The current method of trimming such an edge is to wrap the edge with drywall and apply a corner bead to the lower portion of the edge and a "J" bead to the upper portion of the edge. The edge is then finished with joint compound. However, there are problems with using such conventional finishing techniques on these edges.
Trimming and finishing edges with drywall, corner bead, "J" bead and finishing compound is costly and very time consuming. Various imperfections caused by misalignment of the suspension grid beams and gaps between the beams and the drywall ceiling panels make finishing these edges difficult. Considerable time must be spent in wrapping the edge with drywall and installing the corner bead and "J" bead. After this is done, the edge must still be finished with finishing compound so that the various imperfections and misalignments can be covered and so that the surfaces forming the edge can be blended together. Having to use all of these different materials to create the finished edge is costly.
In order to reduce the cost and time involved in finishing edges with conventional techniques, edges are sometimes finished with conventional face trim, such as COMPASSO.TM. trim sold by USG Interiors, Inc., which may be made of roil-formed steel or extruded aluminum. This requires the use of clips, the subject of the present invention, that are attached to the grid beams and allow the face trim to be clipped to the beams. The face trim, is straight or curved to follow the edge created by the grid beams. The use of face trim eliminates the need for extra drywall, corner bead, "J" bead and finishing compound.
Prior art clips have been used to attach this face trim to ceiling edges. However, there are problems with these prior art clips. The major problem with these clips is that when a clip is attached to a grid beam, the position of the clip is fixed. This also fixes the vertical positioning of the face trim when it is attached to the clip. Therefore, if any gaps appear between the horizontal ceiling panels and the bottom of the face trim, they cannot be easily corrected. These gaps create an unsightly nonuniform appearance in the ceiling edge. The fixed positioning of these clips also creates a problem when different ceiling panel thicknesses are used. One clip design cannot accommodate different panel thicknesses.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clip for attaching face trim to suspended grid ceiling edges that is vertically adjustable with respect to the grid beam so that gaps between the bottom of the face trim and the horizontal ceiling panels can be easily eliminated.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a clip for attaching face trim to suspended grid ceiling edges that will accommodate both 1/2 and 5/8 inch thick ceiling panels.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a clip for attaching face trim to suspended grid ceiling edges that can be attached to either side of a grid beam, thus accommodating use of the clip where grid beams intersect the face trim at acute angles.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a clip for attaching face trim to suspended grid ceiling edges that makes it easier for right handed installers to hold the clip with the left hand while securing it using the right hand.